Monday, 7 February 2011

On New Year’s Eve 1832 while the villagers of Clifton, enjoyed their New Year celebrations, a young man called Robert Rayner played a practical joke on his sister Liz that put her in the path of a murderer.

Passed down through my family, the story of the unsolved murder raises intriguing questions. Who gained from Liz Rayner’s death? Did the assailant act alone, or was there a sinister conspiracy at work? And in such a small, tight knit community, how did the killer get away with it?

With these questions in mind, I donned my metaphorical deerstalker hat, and began to analyse the available historical documents: coroner’s court depositions, newspaper articles, parish records and censuses.

The results of my research were astonishing and allowed me to build a theory about the motive and who the killer was. Of course, after almost two hundred years, it’s a theory that can’t be proved, and there are certainly other suspects in the case…

If, when you’ve read it, you’ve got a different theory – post this site

What's it all about?

“Borrowers of the Night: The Clifton Wood Murder,” is now out!But what’s it all about and why has it got a blog? Well, this isn’t just any book - this is a historical, true crime, murder mystery book with dramatic reconstructions. And although I believe I’ve built a pretty strong case for the solution to the crime, you, dear reader, might come to a different conclusion. So, if you think I’ve missed a vital clue, misinterpreted a piece of evidence, or you’ve got an entirely different theory, the blog is where you can post your ideas…